Social Science

Special arrangements were made by the European Union for decision-making on the possible accession of Romania and Bulgaria. A regime of extra procedures was added to the arrangements used for the Eastern European countries which joined the Union in 2004. This paper examines how the process worked out in the Romanian justice sector, which had been identified as a key area for reform to meet minimum EU requirements. We examine the discourses at policy and program levels and in three selected projects, including at design stage, interim report stage, and final report stage. Our discourse analysis of project documents pays special attention to the key structuring device used in the EU’s project and program planning: the ‘logical framework’ or ‘project matrix’. Intended as a key discipline on project design, implementation and evaluation, its inherent limitations and typical biases in usage can lead to major divergences between project and design. A technocratic language of planning can then in various ways serve as a cover that justifies whatever happened. We examine the language use and associated behaviour, as a contribution to the understanding both of Romanian accession in the face of sceptical European public opinion and of a methodology in  worldwide use.

This study investigated the construction of collective identity in a small-scale group of young adults with severe speech and motor-planning impairments, and the effect of this collective identity on the individual identity and commitment of its members, and on the public profile. The group attempted to assert a more attractive public profile as strategy to attain a valuable role within the social contract with the state as defined by John Stuart Mill, with full civil rights and obligations. Data were collected via interviews, observations, questionnaires and analysis of the group’s printed material. The small group seize meant a limitation. However, because all the members have severe speech impairments, this research offered a unique opportunity to study the role of an ‘effective’ voice for the construction of a collective identity. This study validated the scarcity theory of Cialdini and the resource mobilization theory and found that commitment to the group was very high in spite of huge barriers. Identified instruments to construct a strong collective identity were: an effective voice; a safe space where the members feel welcomed and not threatened by people who reject their way of communicating;  where all impediments to express oneself are taken away, and where all expressions are cheered; publications radiating positive power;  regular meetings to create bonds outside the family, which is otherwise very difficult for his group; regular meetings to discuss the frames of the movement; inviting policy makers and outsiders to the meetings to show the group’s identity and their ‘deviant’ way of communication with the help of facilitators; and joint action creating joint narratives, identities and commitment to the group. All members benefitted from being a member of the group, but effects on the public have yet to be studied. Effects on the policymakers are also unknown, because the political decision-making is still in process.

Keywords: activism, collective identity, motor-planning disorders, facilitated communication, impairment, disabled, disability-rights, and social movements.

This essay describes the history of the concept of disability. Capitalism, together with the rise of the Darwinist frame. constructed the disabled identity and the eugenics policy. Paragraph 2  elaborates on the critics of important scholars on this Medical/Darwinist  model, stimulated by the horrible excesses of this model in World War 2, the Holocaust and the killin of the disabled. The social- and equality-frame tried  to replace the medical frame. Paragraph 3 discusses strategies for an Inclusion Frame by positive framing, narratives and images that can be used to give a positive identity to the person(s) with impairment(s) and consequently a better position in society.
Key words: framing, narratives, disabled identity, medical model, social model, equality model, inclusion, disability-rights.

This paper examines how the asylum process for lesbians, gays and bisexuals (LGB) in the Netherlands creates challenges for sexual minority asylum seekers by looking at LGB asylum policies as an ideological state apparatus. Even though many Western countries offer asylum on the basis of sexual identity, the phenomenon of not being found ‘credibly gay’ has disqualified 200 sexual minority asylum seekers in the Netherlands in 2013 alone. Building upon Althusser’s concept of interpellation, LGB asylum policies are conceptualized as mutually constitutive with the asylum seeker it interpellates. Butler’s notion of performativity shows the subject comes into being as it is interpellated and thereby reiterates the existing norms that circumscribe recognisability. This paper argues that asylum policies are implicated with the norms of the national community through the identification of credible LGB asylum seekers: homonormative narratives of sexual nationalism inform and are perpetuated by LGB asylum policies. Looking at examples of asylum cases, it becomes apparent that the asylum process produces identity categories through which sexual minority asylum seekers need to make themselves recognizable by proving the truthfulness of their sexual identity. Examining through identity performativity how asylum seekers learn to occupy these identities by adopting a normative script, this paper explores how this both reinforces and disrupts normativities. It concludes that the terms of intelligibility need to be interrogated to make the national community more inclusive towards non-normative identities.

This study sets out to explain the reality of modern money creation. It first considers the money multiplier model that is currently the dominant narrative found in university text books. But extensive consultation on the work of a wide range of monetary specialists leads this paper to conclude that the current model is incorrect: money is not multiplied from reserves, but it is rather created out of thin air. Consequently, not the central bank, but rather private banks determine the total money supply. The implications this monetary reality has on society are significant: the current process of money creation causes financial and economic instability by providing positive feedback loops; it condemns society to perpetual debt because of its very nature; and it fuels inequality through interest, crises, and artificial inflation of scarce assets. This paper concludes that although the current system provides easy access to capital for promising initiatives, it should be weighed against its negative implications: ultimately, the democratic process should determine the future of money creation.

This paper intends to analyse the legal situation of torture in the United States by consulting international treaties, domestic laws, executive orders, and interpretations of prominent legal advisers. In addition, a feasible strategy to ending torture in the United States will be constructed by assessing the history of torture in the United Sates, its political use and domestic public opinion towards such practises.

Nederland wordt geacht op 6 april 2016 naar de stembus te gaan om zich uit te spreken over een associatieakkoord tussen de EU en Oekraïne.

Oekraïne is verwikkeld in een bloedige burgeroorlog. Beide kanten beschuldigen elkaar van samenwerking met fascisten; van het plegen van oorlogsmisdaden; van het dienen van buitenlandse belangen. Deze proxy-oorlog tussen Rusland en het Westen ging gepaard met een hevige informatie-oorlog. De hoogste tijd dus voor een boek dat feit van fictie scheidt.

Chris de Ploeg toont aan dat een kritische opstelling jegens het Westen niet hoeft samen te gaan met apologie voor Rusland. Van de achterkamerpolitiek van Oekraïense oligarchen tot de werkelijke rol van ultranationalisten. Dit is het eerste Nederlandse boek dat een omvangrijk en toegankelijk verslag doet van de Oekraïense tragedie.

''Het boek van Chris de Ploeg onderscheidt zich van andere verslagen over de Oekraïne-crisis, waaronder het werk van zeer gerenommeerde academici, door zijn zorgvuldige verwerking van de feiten, wat heel belangrijk is te midden van de bewuste propaganda en de informatie-oorlog waarvan alle partijen in het conflict zich bedienen. Het is tevens de beste linkse analyse tot nu toe. Hoewel hij kritisch is over de problematische Maidan-opstand en de neoliberale-nationalistische regering die daardoor aan de macht is gekomen, neemt de auteur geen pro-Poetin-standpunt in. Hij laat zien hoe de rivaliteit van concurrerende imperialismen en nationalismen Oekraïne in de huidige politiek-economische nachtmerrie heeft doen belanden.''

- Volodimir Isjenko, plaatsvervangend directeur van het Centrum voor Sociaal en Arbeidsonderzoek in Oekraïne en lector aan de Sociologie-faculteit van het Polytechnisch Instituut in Kiev.

"Een nauwgezet gedocumenteerde interpretatie van de Tweede Maidan-revolte, die zich richt op de duistere zijde van Oekraïne's Revolutie van de Waardigheid. Door de rol van extreem-rechts en westerse regeringen, het begin van het verzet in de Donbass en de redenen waarom Kiev daar met militair geweld op reageerde met elkaar te verweven, biedt De Ploeg het dwingende verhaal dat de media doorgaans missen. Een indrukwekkende prestatie."

- Nicolai Petro, hoogleraar politicologie aan de Universiteit van Rhode Island (VS), voorheen U.S. Fulbright onderzoekswetenschapper in Oekraïne.

"Een zeer informatieve en krachtig verwoorde analyse van de tegenstrijdigheden van de Oekraïense revolutie en de westerse reacties daarop. De informatie-oorlog rond de Oekraïne-crisis toont niet alleen de beperkingen van ons begrip van deze ingewikkelde gebeurtenissen aan, maar bovenal ook de spanningen die het gevolg zijn van het onvermogen om een inclusieve vrede te sluiten na de Koude Oorlog. Chris de Ploeg ontleedt op briljante wijze de daaruit voortvloeiende dilemma's, en biedt een overtuigende analyse van wat er mis is gegaan."

- Richard Sakwa, hoogleraar Russische en Europese politiek aan de Universiteit van Kent. Auteur van Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands.

Ukraine is embroiled in a bloody civil war. Both sides stand accused of collaborating with fascists, of committing war crimes, of serving foreign interests. This proxy-war between Russia and the West was accompanied by a fierce information war. This book separates fact from fiction with extensive and reliable documentation. While remaining critical of Russia and the Donbass rebellion, De Ploeg demonstrates that many of the recent disasters can be traced to Ukrainian ultranationalists, pro-western political elites and their European and North-American backers.

Ukraine in the Crossfire tackles the importance of ultranationalist violence during and after the EuroMaidan movement, and documents how many of these groups are heirs to former nazi-collaborators. It shows how the Ukrainian state has seized on the ultranationalist war-rhetoric to serve its own agenda, clamping down on civil liberties on a scale unprecedented since Ukrainian independence. De Ploeg argues that Kiev itself has been the biggest obstacle to peace in Donbass, with multiple leaks suggesting that Washington is using its financial leverage to push a pro-war line in Ukraine. With the nation´s eyes turned towards Russia, the EU and IMF have successfully pressured Ukraine into adopting far-reaching austerity programs, while oligarchic looting of state assets and massive tax-avoidance facilitated by western states continue unabated.

De Ploeg documents the local roots of the Donbass rebellion, the overwhelming popularity of Crimea's secession, and shows that support for Ukraine's pro-western turn remains far from unanimous, with large swathes of Ukraine's Russophone population opting out of the political process.  Nevertheless, De Ploeg argues, the pro-Western and pro-Russian camps are often similar: neoliberal, authoritarian, nationalist and heavily dependent on foreign support.

In a wider exploration of Russo-Western relations, he examines similarities between the contemporary Russian state and its NATO counterparts, showing how the two power blocs have collaborated in some of their worst violent excesses. A far cry from civilizational or ideological clashes, De Ploeg argues that the current tensions flow from NATO´s military dominance and aggressive posture, both globally and within post-soviet space, where Russia seeks to defend the status-quo.

Packed with shocking facts, deftly moving from the local to the international, from the historical to the recent; De Ploeg connects the dots, consistently offering the necessary context for understanding the multiple faces of imperialism within Ukraine and beyond.

Written in an accessible language, Ukraine in the Crossfire offers a truly comprehensive and independent narrative on the Ukrainian conflict.

Reviews:

''Chris de Ploeg's book stands out from other major accounts on the Ukraine's crisis, even by highly esteemed academics, in its careful work with the facts, which is a very important feature amidst the conscious propaganda and information war from all the sides of the conflict. It is also the best left-wing analysis so far. Being critical to a problematic Maidan uprising and the neoliberal-nationalist government it helped to bring to power, the author does not take equally wrong Putin-versteher position and shows how the rivalry of competing imperialisms and nationalisms brought Ukraine into the current political and economic disaster.''
Volodymyr Ishchenko. Deputy director of the Center for Social and Labor
Research in Ukraine and lecturer at the Department of Sociology in Kyiv
Polytechnic Institute.

"A meticulously documented interpretation of the Second Maidan that focuses on the darker side of Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity. By weaving together the role of the Far Right and western governments, the emergence of resistance in Donbass, and the reasons why Kiev responded to it with military force, De Ploeg provides the sort of compelling narrative that is typically missing in the media. Animpressive achievement."
--Nicolai N. Petro, professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island (USA), formerly U.S. Fulbright Research Scholar in Ukraine.

''A highly informative and forcefully argued analysis of the contradictions of the Ukrainian revolution and Western reactions. The informational war over the Ukraine crisis demonstrates not just the limits to our understanding of these complex events but above all the tensions generated by the failure to establish an inclusive peace after the Cold War. Chris Kaspar de Ploeg brilliantly dissects the resulting dilemmas, and provides a convincing analysis of where we went wrong.''
- Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European politics at the
University of Kent. Author of Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands

''a splendid little book''
- Kees van der Peijl, emeritus professor of international relations at the
University of Sussex.